ATHENS----The Red Team cruised to a 7-1 victory in game one of the annual Georgia Fall World Series Sunday at Foley Field.

Junior Ross Ripple, junior Jarrett Brown and senior Dylan Cole combined on a four-hitter to defeat the Black team and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Ripple went four innings and allowed one unearned run on two hits with no walks. Brown pitched two scoreless innings and Cole took care of the seventh.

Junior second baseman Nelson Ward got the scoring started in the first off sophomore David Sosebee. He notched a single, took second on sacrifice bunt by junior Conor Welton and scored on a two-out, RBI-single by sophomore Zack Bowers. Ward smashed a two-out, solo home run in the second for a 2-0 advantage. In the fourth, the Red team extended its lead to 4-0 on one of three miscues on the day by the Black team.

Freshman Rob Youngblood collected the first hit of the day for the Black team in the fourth. On the play, freshman Hunter Bening advanced to third after reaching on a leadoff error. Ripple got freshman Stephen Wrenn to bounce in to a double play to avoid a big inning as Bening scored to make it 4-1.

In the sixth, the Red team got an RBI-double from sophomore Sean McLaughlin, a run-scoring single from freshman Zach Sims and an RBI-groundout from Davis Hines to cap the scoring.

The Black team tried to rally in the final frame off Cole, loading the bases with two outs. Wren drew a leadoff walk and freshman Skyler Weber picked up his second hit of the day to get it started. Cole battled back to retire juniors Jared Walsh and Heath Holder before sophomore Jess Posey reached on a walk. With the bases loaded, Cole struck out freshman Mike Bell to end the contest.